Walkabout
by the-belles-echo
Summary: Exit Edward stage left, enter Tanya stage right. Bella/Tanya.
1. This Years Love

**This story is for Avanwolf. I'm starting with the teaser that I sent her. Next chapter starts the actual beginning.**

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"Edward is…"

"Angst ridden and aggravated by the stick that's permanently lodged up his ass?" Bella finished. She crossed her arms and leaned back against the porch banister. Her mouth pulled in to a taunt line, gaze flicking out over the darkened woods but not really seeing. The past few months had sent her reeling until it seemed that everything she thought she knew and felt were now in constant flux.

Tanya laughed, tilting her head to the side and resting her temple against her knuckles. The human had obviously not forgiven Edward for his actions yet. "I was going to say young, actually. But I like your description – it's very colorful."

The sound of Tanya's laughter tingled Bella's ears. The timbre was low, aged, liltingly soft. Bella felt her face and neck flush, her chest tightened in satisfaction. _'I can make a thousand year old vampire laugh.'_ She watched as the vampire watched her. She felt heady with power. "Why did you like him?" she asked, internally wondering why her voice came out so breathless. "Edward doesn't seem your type."

The vampire looked thoughtful, gazing off into the dark. If she was surprised by the change in topic it didn't show. Her fingers gently tapped out an unsteady rhythm against the wooden table. "No, he doesn't, does he?" She frowned slightly before getting up and walking over to where Bella stood. Bracing her arms against the railing, she looked up into the night and sighed. "For more than a thousand years I've wandered the earth." Her head fell then, limp, chin resting on her chest, eyes downcast. "Alone. Always alone."

The weariness that Bella heard in Tanya's voice was palpable. She longed to reach over and touch the ancient, find some way to comfort her. But she was rooted to the spot, her body rigid, unmoving. The Alaskan wind bit at her cheek, the low howl and hiss of it blowing against the snow and through the trees the only sound that surrounded them. Bella felt the loneliness, the isolation. It was as if the exhaustion that Tanya felt had swept out to encompass her.

"I will tell you this of life, Bella," Tanya continued, unaware of the thoughts or feelings of the woman next to her. "Everything has a mate. No matter how brief of a life span something has, there is always a counterpart to its existence. I long for that counterpart." She turned her head, eyes connecting with Bella's. "I have met thousands of men and vampires over the course of my life. And I have grown tired of looking, of finding nothing but disappointment. Edward was the only single male in the only other coven besides ours that chose animals over humans."

Bella watched as Tanya shrugged helplessly, a mirthless smile appearing on the vampires face.

"I was caught up in the idea of Edward. I wouldn't be lonely, he wouldn't be lonely, and our families would be united. It sounded like the perfect ending." Her eyes searched Bella's face. Gently, Tanya reached over and touched Bella's cheek. "Now I see that he could never make me happy, not truly. I hope you believe me when I say I harbor no ill feelings against you."

Bella reached up and threaded her fingers through Tanya's, squeezing the vampire's hand comfortingly. "Do you want to know something?" she asked, gently tugging on the vampire's hand to bring her closer. She smiled as the blonde arched an eyebrow at her questioningly. Wrapping her arms around Tanya's waist, Bella hugged the cold form against herself as tightly as she could. "I think Edward was an idiot for passing you up."

Tanya laughed happily, wrapping her own arms around the human's slight frame. She felt deliriously lucky to have met the young woman in her arms. Not even with her sisters had she ever felt this comforted or relaxed. There was something about Bella that had spoken to her from the start. _'It's almost as if we innately know each other. Two halves of a whole.'_ Resting her cheek against Bella's head, Tanya sighed contentedly. "Well I guess as long as I get the consolation prize of having a best friend I can bear to go another thousand years in search of a mate."

The thought struck Bella then, like lightning. It was so sudden, so enlightening that she couldn't help but blurt it out, uncensored. "Have you ever thought that a woman might be your mate?"

The rumbling laughter of the vampire cut off suddenly.

Bella pulled back from the embrace to see a look of shock frozen on Tanya's features. _'If a vampire could be dazed, this would be how they look,'_ she thought.

Seconds ticked by slowly without change. Bella felt embarrassment well up within her chest. _'I've offended her.'_ Unease made her fidgety. Hastily Bella unwound herself from their embrace, taking a few steps back.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, eyes intently focused on the ground. "I didn't mean to imply anything. I just thought with how open you are to everything that maybe it could be a new option for you."

The vampire said nothing.

Bella took a few more steps back. "Well I think I'm just going to head back in," she gestured awkwardly towards the doors. "I still have some laundry that I need to do." She waited a beat. "So I'll talk to you tomorrow, I guess."

Tanya said nothing as the human made a hasty exit back inside the house. Her brows furrowed in concentration. She had never felt this way before.

Elated. Blindsided. Excited. Ignorant.

Had the snow always been so white, so pristine? The air so crisp? The stars so numerous? Surely she'd never seen them before this second. Everything seemed new. She felt new – changed.

One sentence had just irrevocably changed her life. One human.

'_Bella.'_

The girl's scent lingered in the air. Lilacs and dead leaves.

'_She smells like autumn.'_

Bella.

Her nostrils flared. The past months flashed through her mind, rearranging themselves into patterns neatly laid out for her to dissect.

Bella's arrival.

The sudden contentedness she had found in life.

Edward's growing frustration.

'_It isn't Edward that's made me so happy,' _Tanya thought, turning to look inside the house.

'_It's his mate.'_


	2. Let Her Cry

**Slow Bang is still active. I'm just working through a mental block. **

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She hadn't ever really noticed just **how** green everything was.

Wet? Yes.

Gray? Sure.

But the vibrant green of everything had just now surrounded her. Overgrowth, undergrowth – all had just formed before her very eyes for the first time. Towering tree lines, dense foliage, hanging moss and lichens were everywhere. The slight breeze made it seem like they were breathing. As if the entire forest was one massive, living, swaying entity. The rain falling from leaves could have been tears. Crying for her.

'_An empathetic forest,'_ she thought idly, continuing to stare off into nothing.

It could happen. Supernatural things did, after all, exist.

Just not for her.

No, the supernatural world had looked at her and deemed her unworthy. So much so that it had run from her, forcing her back into a world that she knew would never be the same. How was she supposed to go back to how she was before with the knowledge she now possessed? At one time she had felt special, revered even. She had been let in on the great secret that humanity was kept from. She had been **more**.

But no longer.

'_Was it really only a few hours ago?'_

Now she was less.

She was alone.

The wind picked up, wrestling the trees into motion. The rain fell harder. The forest began to darken.

Still she sat. Staring.

There was no place for her now.

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Moonlight reflected off the frozen ground like a mirror. Black trees angled up from the ground and tangled limbs with each other. The air was still, quiet.

Tanya sat on the ground, unmoving. She didn't breath, didn't blink. She'd been in the same position for two days already. Snow and ice clung to her, shrouding her in white. To her left she heard the snow crunching softly under the hooves of a herd of moose. Further away the wind was picking up – a storm was slowly encroaching.

'_A millennia of the same thing,' _her mind kept repeating, steadily spiraling down into madness. It had happened before. The monotony of life had become something of a reoccurring illness. There was only so much traveling and sex could do. Everything eventually became repetitive.

'_There's no point to any of this,'_ she thought bitterly. What life was there to indefinite seclusion? No excursions on sunny days, no prolonged interaction with people or other vampires. She could never be famous, never make a huge impact on anything in the mortal world. She'd been everywhere, seen every place on earth, done everything imaginable. And now there was nothing.

So she sat, allowing the snow to slowly encase her – let the earth reclaim her body. The wind licked at her body harshly, scratching at her solid form with its rough tongue. She knew it did this but couldn't feel it. Hadn't felt it in a thousand years. She wondered if she even remembered being cold or simply imagined the feeling from seeing humans react to it. It was inconsequential; she was no longer a human, would never be a human again. Her life was stagnant, repetitive.

And so she had simply sat down, refusing to play the game.

Her record was a year and a half. Maybe this time she'd make it to two.

Closing her eyes, she let herself drift away into nothingness. Pass the house she currently called home, the vampires she called sisters. The years unwound themselves slowly in her mind until there was only her, the whipping wind, falling snow, and laugh of the kookaburra.

Her infallible brain spoke up,_ 'The kookaburra is native to Australia and New Guinea, not Alaska.'_

Tanya frowned, annoyed at herself for ruining her own meditation. And yet, she was curious. Why was she hearing that birdcall? Why was it somehow familiar? Slowly, she let her conscious nag her back into the present.

The kookaburra was still laughing.

From her pocket.

Tanya grimaced in irritation. Only one person had that ringtone. She briefly considered ignoring it, but knowing the caller, they wouldn't hang up. Her nostrils flared. Snow slid from her as she reached into her jeans for her cell phone.

"Hello, Alice," she sighed.

"I know you're doing your whole self imposed exile thing, but I really need your help, Tanya."

The desperation in her friend's voice cooled whatever indignation Alice's words may have caused. The first tickle of anxiety touched off inside her chest.

"What's wrong?" she asked, already standing up and shaking the remaining snow from her body.

"It's Bella," Alice's voice cracked. "Edward…he fell in love with a human."

'_A human!' _Tanya winced as the sting of rejection swept through her again. She wasn't good enough, but a human was? _'Maybe he killed her,'_ a dark voiced whispered in her mind, delightedly. _'It would serve him right…'_ But Alice was still talking, hadn't said anything about a tragic murder. Pushing her petty jealousy aside, Tanya forced herself to concentrate on Alice's words.

"…he wouldn't listen; he won't. He's made us all leave, refuses to let anyone have contact with her."

Her mind scrambled to keep up. _They broke up? He left? Did she tell him to leave?_ Her brows furrowed. "Alice, I don't see how any of this has anything to do with myself."

The exasperation was evident in her friend's voice. "I can't go back to Forks to check on Bella. But you can."

Tanya snorted involuntarily. "Alice, I am not going to Washington to check on Edwards little pet human. He's a big boy, I'm sure he thought everything through – "

"She knows what we are, Tanya! And now her future keeps disappearing." She'd never heard Alice so distraught before. "Please! Please, Tanya, go check on her. I've seen that it helps. And not just her."

Tanya felt her resolve slipping. Did she always give in so easily? "Alice, if it's the Volturi…" she protested weakly.

"It's not, they don't know about her."

"I'm not interacting with her."

"You don't have to. Just go look at her. Make sure she's alright."

Tanya pursed her lips. "Fine. I'll call you once I'm back."

She heard Alice's sigh of relief. "You don't need to call. Everything's going to be ok now. Thank you, Tanya."

Tanya hit the end call button as viciously as she dared without breaking it. "Damn seer," she cursed. Shaking her head, she turned towards the direction of her house. She was going to need a map.

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	3. Wild is the Wind

**As always, for Avanwolf – who is, surprisingly, reluctant to admit her love for me. **

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Running for hours on end was much like driving for hours on end – it got distinctively boring after the first two. But it provided plenty of time for Tanya to think about the human she was heading towards.

Bella Swan.

Alice had texted her the girl's name and address, but nothing else. In the six hours since she'd left she'd created multiple versions of the girl in her mind. _'She must be devastatingly beautiful and caring to have ensnared both Edward and Alice,' _her mind whispered, jealousy creeping through to tinge her thoughts. Tanya rolled her eyes at herself. _'Really, now. I'm over a thousand years old. I will __**not**__ get jealous of a human.'_

Instead she focused on what she would do after she found the girl. Alice had offered no advice or instructions. Technically, she should kill the girl. It was against the law for humans to know of their existence and live. Yet she highly doubted that was what Alice had sent her here for. And if what Alice had said was true, that the girl kept disappearing from her visions…well there was only one reason Alice wouldn't be able to see someone's future… _'If they didn't have one.'_

'_So_,_'_ Tanya surmised, _'I get to play the heroine in this adventure.' _

But what was she supposed to do with the girl? Alice didn't expect her to stay in Forks with her, did she?

'_Certainly not,'_ her mind snorted.

She would **not** become a babysitter to a heartbroken teenager.

Still…she felt the oddest sensation building in her chest the closer she got to her destination. Excitement sent shivers of pleasure down her spine. She had purpose, if only for a short while. Life once again had some sort of direction. It was for that reason, she deduced, that she felt drawn towards the girl – like there was something very important waiting for her in this sleepy town.

'_Finally,'_ she thought, seeing the Forks sign up ahead, streetlights lit in the distance. The town was small, really just a few stoplights and convenience stores. It wouldn't take her long to find the address Alice had sent her.

Something was off, however. The night was too quiet, the air too still. She should have been able to hear animals in the surrounding woods for miles. But Forks was silent; the only discernable noise was the hum of electricity flowing through telephone cables above her.

The hairs on her neck stood, nostrils flared. Instinctually, Tanya found herself moving towards coverage. After a thousand years she'd learned to trust her senses over her mind. Just because she couldn't see the danger didn't mean it wasn't there. Melding into the shadows of a building, she slowly continued her progression through the town – ears and eyes straining to catch the smallest of movements. Downtown, if you could call that, was empty. With the slightest effort she vaulted herself onto the top of the Mutual Federal bank, scanning street signs. She was nearing the edge of town, the girl's house had to be relatively close. The wind momentarily picked up, barely causing her hair to sway against the breeze.

Instantly, she flattened herself against the roof of the building – teeth bared. The scent of animal and vampire burned her nose. The vampire was unquestionably male – it smelled of sandalwood and grass. The animal though…dander and fungi._ 'It's like a bog is chasing after him,_'

She could hear them now, coming towards her. The vampire was ahead of the animal by maybe fifty yards. Whatever was chasing him was big, and fast. Tanya waited until she heard them pass before hazarding a glance over the building ledge. She was surprised to see the animal was a wolf. Enormous, but still a wolf. It was jet black, about the size of a small horse, and slowly closing the gap between itself and the male vampire. Tanya took no pleasure in seeing that they were both heading in the direction of her target's house. It could be coincidence that a vampire just happened upon the town not even a week after the Cullen's left, and that wolves of epic proportions roamed the surrounding woods…

'_Don't think I like the odds of that, however,' _she thought, leaping from the building and taking off after the two. She certainly wasn't afraid of the vampire (she could count the number of vampires who posed a threat to her on one hand), and since the wolf hadn't seemed to sense her in the slightest she felt confident it wasn't too experienced. Both would be easy to deal with.

She stuck to roofs and treetops, gaining on the two. The wolf was close enough to snap at the heels of the male. It was completely unaware of the danger that loomed thirty feet above it.

The wind had started to pick up; the beginning raindrops of an incoming storm began to fall. There was a clearing up ahead that they were heading towards – devoid of trees and buildings. She would be forced to make her move soon.

There was no rush of adrenaline for her – no thrill or anticipation of the kill. She was a predator, the bringer of death. As she leapt from a low hanging branch she took the opportunity to indulge in the bittersweet feeling she imagined the unsuspecting wolf would feel if it knew death was mere moments away. _'What a thing!' _she thought, _'to be here one second and gone the next.'_

And then she was on the wolf – feet digging into the shoulder blades, left hand grabbing the under part of its jaw, right hand curling over the muzzle and teeth. As if she were breaking a wishbone she quickly pulled her arms apart. The crunch of bones and wet tear of flesh gave way as the top part of the animal's head was separated from its body.

Her feet touched the ground before the carcass – the attack had taken no more than five seconds. She stood, holding the upper half of the wolf's head in her right hand, staring at the male vampire, who had come to a stop about a hundred feet away. She could feel the animal's blood drip down her side and soak into her jeans. The vampire eyed her warily.

"Thank you," he said, bowing his head slightly. "I'm afraid I underestimated how fast the thing was," he smiled then, winsomely, gesturing to the mangled creature beside her.

Tanya's eyes narrowed surreptitiously. "Why are you in Cullen territory?"

The male's smile faltered. Clearly, he hadn't expected his savior to be hostile towards him. Tanya watched as he shrugged, his eyes sliding across her face and focusing on something in the distance. "I'm an old acquaintance of theirs. I was coming to see them when that…" he hesitated, eyes flicking down to the head in her hand, "…wolf, attacked me."

'_Liar, liar, liar,'_ her mind crooned. Smiling sweetly, Tanya let the wolf's head fall from her hand onto the wet ground. The male seemed disarmed by her smile, his posture relaxing as she walked closer to him. "Tell me…" she hesitated, waiting for his name.

"Laurent."

She nodded, still smiling, and came to a stop about two feet from him. "Tell me, Laurent, do you have any special power?" Confusion masked his features. Reaching up, smiling as he flinched, Tanya gently trailed a finger down his check. "Because I have a gift, Laurent. Would you like to know what it is?"

Laurent swallowed thickly but said nothing.

Slowly, Tanya slid even closer to him, her hands coming to rest against his chest. "I can tell when men are feeding me bullshit, Laurent. It's like a siren goes off in the back of my mind – a warning of sorts." She stared into his red eyes. "I've killed many vampires because they lied to me. I'd hate for you to be next, wouldn't you?"

She nodded her head in agreement along with him. "That's what I thought. Now, one more time – why are you here?"

Laurent hastily took a few steps back, arms raised in surrender. "Ok, ok. I'm here for a human – a girl that the Cullen's were familiar with. One of my coven's members was destroyed because of her. His mate wants her life."

Tanya frowned in disbelief. "A human killed one of us?" Surely Alice would have mentioned if the human were capable of harming her.

Laurent shook his head no. "She didn't kill him, not directly. James was tracking her. The Cullen's killed him."

'_Another intriguing puzzle piece.'_ If the others had cared enough to kill a vampire for the human, why would they abandon her? Her curiosity to meet this young girl kept increasing. But first she would have to deal with the vampire who wanted her dead. She glared at Laurent, the barest of growls rumbling in her chest. "Do you want to live, Laurent? Or are you ready to see what awaits after this life?"

To his credit, Laurent seemed unfazed by her question. "What do you want me to do?"

Tanya shrugged. "Leave. Go back to your coven. Tell his mate the human's dead."

"She'll want proof. She may even come here to see for herself."

Sighing, Tanya nodded. How quickly her plans had changed. Had Alice seen all this? Briefly, she considered calling the younger vampire. _'No, to hell with them. I'm doing this my way.' _She closed her eyes and listened to the rain; thunder rumbled closer in the distance. "Let her come," she told Laurent, eyes still closed, face turned up towards the sky. "I'll take care of the human."

"As you wish."

As she heard him turn and start to leave Tanya opened her eyes. "Laurent," she called out softly, voice barely a whisper.

Though he was already 200 feet away he stopped and looked back.

"If you betray my trust I'll find out. And then I'll hunt you down, tear off your limbs, and throw you into the deepest ocean."

The next second he was gone.

Closing her eyes again, Tanya took a deep breath through her nose, held it for a few seconds, then exhaled from her mouth. _'Alright, where the hell is this human?'_ Turning, she stopped short when she noticed the wolf body. She couldn't just leave it; someone was bound to notice it. And with the rain, burning it wasn't an option. She'd have to bury it.

In the rain.

Without a shovel.

She felt her teeth grind. "Human's already a pain in my ass," she muttered, grabbing the tail of the deceased wolf. Grunting, she began heaving the heavy corpse deeper into the woods.

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In past month that Edward had been gone Bella hadn't slept for longer than four hours at a time. And while it was hell on her body, it did wonders for her grades. Any activity that promised a temporary relief from the thoughts and memories had been fervently latched on to. Bella had actually begun to find herself upset in the relative ease that high school suddenly seemed to possess. It had always been such a tedious hassle when they were still here.

Rolling on to her back, Bella sighed. She didn't need to look at the clock to know it was around 3:30 in the morning. No matter how early or late she went to bed she would somehow always wake up around the same time. Glancing over to the window, Bella watched the lightning flash against the darkened sky. She remembered her mother telling her when she was little that if she counted after a flash of lighting the sound of thunder would tell her how many miles away the storm was. If there was any truth to the idea then the storm was directly overhead – every burst of light was immediately followed by a crash of thunder that seemed to shake the house. She wondered if the Cullen's were off playing baseball somewhere.

'_It's as if I can still see him perched in the tree, ready to sneak in for the night,'_ she thought, seeing shadows in the tree outside.

The sky lit up momentarily again.

Bella felt her blood run cold.

There was someone outside her window.

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**No, Tanya doesn't have a real gift. I just figure after a thousand years she'd be pretty good at seeing through bullshit. **


	4. Separate Ways

'_Rosalie.'_

Only it wasn't. The torso was too lithe, the hair too long, the jaw line too sharp. Rosalie was the very definition of feminism – who… whatever was out in the tree was not her. It was wild, a predator.

'_Besides,' _Bella thought, _'Rosalie hates me.'_ She certainly wouldn't to be in the tree outside her window… in the dead of night… in the pouring rain. _'But if it's not Rosalie…' _Then, just as quickly as she had imagined Rosalie, her brain supplied her with the only other possibility.

Victoria.

Bella couldn't stop the soft "oh," that fell from her lips, nor the rapid increase in her heartbeat. Cold chills raced through her stomach and arms, her muscles tensed in anticipation. She could hear the individual raindrops hitting the windowpane, feel the scratch of the wool blankets as they pinned her to her bed. Her body was coiled, tapped into survival mode, prepared for action.

'_Only, there would be no flight or fight_,' Bella's mind whispered. _'You can't outrun death.'_ And death was exactly what was waiting for her. Proudly it stood, perched outside of her window.

It had come for her.

Time slowed – or adrenaline made it seem so. Bella watched as her window was opened, watched as the rain began to fall on her windowsill and floor. And then, as it always was with the supernatural, the vampire was inside. No slow, awkward entrance, no fumbling, no push or pull. She simply was inside, standing at the edge of her bed, dripping rainwater onto her floor and looking every bit the immortal monster of children's nightmares. Pale and dark, blanketed in a hood of shadows.

Except Bella didn't remember Victoria looking like this. The hair was shorter and lighter – falling in loose, wet curls to the vampires' shoulders. Where Victoria had been wiry and fluid, like walking smoke, this vampire stood solid and erect, formidable in her svelte form. The jaw was more angled, the shoulders more square. Bella stared at the vampires face as a sculptor would – critical, assessing, memorizing.

Lightning flashed outside, momentarily lighting up the room. Eyes flashed gold, Bella's breathing stopped.

"You're a vegetarian…" she started, and then drifted off into confused silence. She tried to push herself up into a sitting position, but with the realization that this vampire was not Victoria the adrenaline had quickly left her body, leaving her limbs feeling like jelly. Struggling, Bella managed to push herself up onto her elbows.

The female tilted her head to the side and stared at her, face unreadable. Her eyes then slid from Bella's and observed the room.

"Do you have a bag?"

Bella blinked. "I…uh, what?" She shook her head in bewilderment.

The vampire looked at her again, unimpressed. "A bag. They hold things. Most humans possess one."

Still mystified, Bella decided to go along with current set of events. "Yes, I have one. I keep it in my closet."

The vampire nodded, already opening the closet door and pulling it out. "Get dressed. Grab your essentials."

"What for?" Bella asked, voice rising in volume. She forced her legs and arms to work, kicking at the blankets until she freed herself. The vestiges of panic were returning, she had no idea what was going on. A strange vampire was in her room, packing her bag full of clothes, ordering her around.

That same vampire was now standing with a bag hanging from her hand and glaring at Bella. "Do you want to die?" she hissed, taking a few steps towards the bed. For the first time Bella noticed the dirt that was smeared on her hands and jeans. Even the dark wool sweater the vampire wore seemed to be stained with something dark.

"Of course not!" Bella yelled back in confusion.

"Shh!" the vampire countered, head turning towards the door.

They both listened for the sounds of Charlie waking. A minute passed. Two.

The pale vampire turned back towards Bella, who stood and crossed her arms, unrepentant for being loud.

"Who are you?" Bella asked, "What are you doing here? Why are you packing my bag?" Bella swore she saw the female vampire's eye twitch, but it was hard to tell in the darkness. She couldn't be sure.

"I'm Tanya, from the Denali coven."

Silence.

"Alice sent me."

More silence. Tanya's eyes narrowed. "She didn't tell you I was coming?"

Bella felt her throat constrict as emotions overwhelmed her. Closing her eyes, she swallowed thickly. "I haven't heard anything from any of the Cullen's." She took a ragged breath and let her eyes wander the room. "Not since they left," she told Tanya.

"You have no idea why I'm here then?" Tanya asked, moving from Bella's closet and coming to stop at the foot of her bed.

"Why would I?" Bella asked. "As far as I know the Cullens have no intention of ever returning or contacting me."

If the vampire heard the waiver in her voice she thankfully ignored it. Instead she sat down heavily on the bed next to Bella, deep in thought. "I think I've messed everything up," Tanya told her, groaning. She pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger. "I told her I wasn't going to interact with you, I actively planned on not interacting with you."

'_Another vampire that wants nothing to do with me,'_ Bella thought ruefully. _'I should find a way to market my ability to drive away the supernatural.'_ Sighing, Bella looked over to where Tanya sat on the edge of her bed. "Look, why don't you just leave then?" She shrugged her shoulders, "The Cullen's…"she drifted off for a moment before taking a deep breath. "The Cullen's are gone and they're not coming back. Just leave and we'll pretend this never happened."

Tanya gave Bella a slight smile. "Oh, it's far too late for that," she told her. Sighing, Tanya shook her head ruefully. "I'm afraid that I've forced you into a more dire situation." She carefully watched the human's face. "Are you aware that there's a vampire who wants you dead? Someone who isn't a Cullen?"

Bella's eyes widen for a fraction of a second before her whole face fell. "Oh," she said.

Tanya nodded, pursing her lips and looking out the window. "If you stay here you'll be killed."

Bella was silent for a moment, processing everything that had happened, everything she'd been told. She couldn't say that she was surprised that Victoria wanted her dead, or that she was coming for her. Her options were hopelessly limited. Leave with a stranger, one who was somehow connected with the vampires who had abandoned her, or stay and die.

"If I leave what will happen to my father? Will she kill Charlie?" she asked, turning her head to look at her door, as if she could see Charlie through the wood and drywall that separated them.

Tanya sighed. "I'm not Alice, I can't tell you with 100% accuracy." She heard the human's pulse and breathing pick up. Quickly, she sought to calm her. "But…I don't think she will. If she believes you're dead she'll let him live to suffer."

Bella swallowed thickly as tears began to stream down her face. "I'm never going to see my family again, am I?"

Tanya tried to convince herself that she shouldn't be, that she wasn't, fascinated by the girl's pain – but she was. The raw emotion was enticing; it sparked something deep inside her, resonated somewhere. She drank in the girl's expression. "No, you probably won't," she whispered hoarsely, guilt for enjoying the spark of emotion within herself affecting her voice.

Bella nodded, oddly feeling empty. Numbly she looked around her room, squinting to see everything in the dark. Memorize it. Freeze it. It seemed the culmination of her life had reached its pinnacle. _'Wasn't this what you always wanted?'_ her mind replied snidely. For one terrible second all the rash things that had lead her to this point seemed ready to crash down over her and sweep her away into an emotional tidal wave. She squeezed her eyes shut, breathed in deeply through her nose, and slowly released the air from her mouth. "How do we do this?" she asked, looking at the darkened shadow of the vampire at the foot of her bed. "Charlie won't believe that I'd run away. Even if he did, he'd think that I'd head towards the Cullens. That scenario wouldn't end well for anyone."

The room lit up with light from outside for a second, allowing her to see Tanya's eyes locked on her own, sizing her up. She watched the vampire lean down, heard the sound of something rough scraping against cloth. It took Bella a full second to recognize what the curved gleam was reflecting off of. Her insides twisted painfully as adrenaline began pumping through her veins.

"It's not going to look like you ran away," Tanya told her, palming the kukri knife. She tossed Bella's bag next to her. "Pack quickly. Don't take anything that anyone would notice was gone."

Still eyeing the knife, Bella nodded. She tried to keep her hands from shaking as she began stuffing some clothes in her bag. _'This is really happening,'_ her mind kept repeating. _'You'll never see your parents again, this strange, knife wielding vampire may kill you, and none of the Cullen's will ever have the chance to change their minds about abandoning you.'_

The last thought stopped her in her tracks. It wasn't Edward her thoughts were preoccupied with; it was her parents, all of the Cullens. This had been the first night when she hadn't thought of how impossible life seemed without him. _'Well, that's great. I stop thinking about Edward just when a vampire comes to kidnap me.'_

A cold hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her thoughts. Her head turned to find Tanya so close she could feel the vampire's breath on her check. "Are you ready?"

She'd forgotten how alluring vampires were. Tanya smelled of campfire and rain, her voice was controlled and soft. Bella felt dazed and shook her head to clear her mind. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her picture frames glinting from the nightstand. There was a picture of her and mother, one of her and Charlie, a few with friends. Bella worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she contemplated whether or not she should take them.

The hand on her shoulder squeezed imperceptibly, or so she imagined. Clearing her throat, Bella turned away from the photos and looked back up at Tanya. "I'm ready."

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Tanya reached over and grabbed the book bag from Bella's hand. The human's heart was pounding, blood roaring through her veins despite the human's most controlled exterior. Tanya felt herself reluctantly impressed with how the human was handling the situation. It wasn't normal, but she expected no less from a human that had fallen in love with a vampire. Attraction was one thing – that was a natural part of the predator/prey relationship. But a human falling in love with a vampire? She'd never witnessed such an event.

Walking over to the window, she threw the bag outside and onto the lawn below. Tanya let her eyes look out over the forest as her mind raced. Was this the right choice? Would Alice, Carlisle, approve?

She felt raindrops hitting her face. The rain was beginning to let up. If she still planned to have their scents wash away she needed to get going. Nodding to herself, she turned back to the human.

Bella.

She walked up to the girl and gently grasped her arm. Lifting it, she gently ran the tip of her index finger over the outside of Bella's forearm.

"A clean cut," she told her. "It will go between the muscles, down to the bone. You'll bleed a lot, but nothing fatal."

The human swallowed noisily. She seemed to have gotten paler. "Won't the blood be too much? Carlisle was the only one who…"

"I am three times older than Carlisle," Tanya interrupted, pulling Bella closer to her. She brought Bella's wrist up to her face, gently running her nose over the human's pulse point. The predator in her smiled in satisfaction as the girl began to sweat. Softly she spoke, lips moving against Bella's skin. "It has been 600 years since I last fed on a human. I will not fall upon you like some beast."

Wide eyed, Bella only nodded.

Tanya gave her no warning or extra time to prepare. One second she had been holding Bella's wrist to her mouth, the next she had let go as blood began to bloom from the long gash on her arm.

For a moment the human simply stared as blood began to pour from her arm and drip onto the floor. She seemed almost fascinated by the white of her own bone.

Tanya caught her eye as she raised the knife to her mouth, slowly running her tongue along the length of the knife. "Mmm," she moaned, flashing Bella a feral smile. "Tastes like spring."

The next second she had to drop her knife so she could catch the fainting girl.

"Great," Tanya muttered, shifting the girl awkwardly in her arms, watching as her head rolled to the side. "Figures you'd be squeamish."

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Off in the distance a wolf bayed.

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**Sometimes I just want to blow my brains out after I write. :/ Never try to impress a woman by writing her a story, friends. **


	5. Somewhere With You

Tanya sat in the small hotel chair, legs crossed, chin propped up on her hand, and stared at Bella. The young human lay strewn across the bed, asleep – her arm heavily wrapped in medical gauze. She had not woken up since she had fainted at the house, not even when Tanya had stitched her wound closed.

Tanya's mouth turned down ever so slightly as she looked at the bandage. The scent of the girl's blood still lingered in the air, fresh. It had been almost twelve hours since she had cut the girl's arm – yet the bleeding had only stopped an hour or so ago. It had been almost a century since she'd seen Carlisle stitch one of his patient's wounds closed. And, though she remembered it clearly, as if she had watched it only yesterday, last night was the first time she had ever sewn human skin. It had been…trying.

'_At least the scar will follow the line of the muscle. It will be difficult for most humans to see,'_ Tanya thought, assuaging herself of any guilt.

Still…something bothered her about the girl being hurt.

Sighing, she leaned over and turned the television on, flipping through channels until she landed on a news program. She'd made it to the outskirts of Seattle before Bella's blood loss had started to become an issue. Tanya had wanted to get into a populated area where people would be too busy with their own lives to worry about what was going on with anybody else. The Marriot receptionist had barely glanced at her when she'd paid for her room. No one had been around to see her sneak into the sliding doors of her balcony with the injured human in her arms. No one to remotely connect the injured teen with the small Amber alert that flashed across the bottom of the CNN channel.

Still, the news was unsettling. More attention had been given to the story than Tanya had planned on. Apparently another person from the nearby reservation had gone missing. Her gaze lingered, unseeing, on the television as her mind raced. Had Laurent killed a human? Would the Volturi somehow get involved? For the first time in over a hundred years Tanya felt the stirring of apprehension, confusion. She had no idea what to do, where to go. It was too dangerous to return to Denali. If the Volturi did get involved somehow…were able to discover that she had taken a human and was harboring her, alive…no, she wouldn't put her sisters at risk.

Leaning forward until her elbows rested on her knees, Tanya clasped her hands together and regarded the human critically. The girl lay motionless on top of the bed covers, her brown hair spilling out over the pillows beneath her. Her heartbeat was steady, her breathing deep. The light from the window made the girl look unnaturally pale – vampire pale.

'_Deathly pale,'_ Tanya's mind whispered to her. Her nostrils flared, breathing in the scent of the room and human. It would be easy, she supposed, to just kill the girl and be done with the whole affair. There would be no worry about the Volturi, no obligation to look after the girl, to care about her fate. Her gaze wandered the girl, Bella's, face. _'She would never know. Just a slight pressure, a quick twist…'_ her hand twitched sympathetically, _'from temporary blackness to absolute.'_ She eyed the rise and fall of Bella's chest, mind playing out the scenario.

From her pocket the sound of the Kookaburra chirped.

Not taking her eyes from the still form on the bed, Tanya reached into her jeans and pulled out her phone. She ran her fingers over the screen, but did not answer. Alice was responsible for getting her into this mess. Why should she talk to the petite vampire now? Why hadn't she called when she saw her in Bella's bedroom? When she took the girl?

Her eyes narrowed.

'_No.' _she thought, mind becoming resolute. _'I will do as I see fit.' _She was a thousand year old vampire. No juvenile would not boss her around, no matter how much affection she held for her. _'I have decided, Alice. I am in charge.' _

The phone crumbled like paper beneath her fingers.

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Bella blinked against the unexpected brightness that greeted her. Her mind was foggy – thoughts and memories displaced. She struggled to open her eyes. There was something important, something she needed to wake up for. _'A test? Am I going to be late?'_ Groaning, she reached up to rub her eyes, only to hiss at the sharp pain that pulled down the length of her arm.

Tendrils of sense slowly began to bloom within her mind. First the storm. Then the rain, the open window. The vampire.

Her eyes flew open at the same time the rest of her body froze. She didn't breath, didn't blink – just stared up at the ceiling that clearly wasn't hers. Was the vampire here? Where was here? Was her father all right? Was there a search party looking for her? Was Victoria out there looking for her? Her mind raced.

"Breathe."

The voice brought reality with it. The sound of the television in the background reached her ears. The rough comforter, the kind that could only be found in a hotel, scratched at her skin. Slowly, Bella inhaled and turned her head towards the sound of the vampire's voice.

She was sitting in a chair next to the balcony window. Her legs were crossed, chin resting in her right hand, arm propped against the armrest. The blonde vampire regarded her silently, watching as Bella watched her.

The Cullens had always taken precautions to appear human. They had moved and breathed like the living, had perfected the art of blending in with teenagers and society. This vampire, Tanya, did no such thing. She did not move, nor blink, nor breathe. It was unsettling, eerie. Bella swallowed thickly and closed her eyes, drawing upon all of her inner strength to ask the questions that burned against her lips.

Opening her eyes, she was confronted with the vampire standing over her, staring down at her with the same expressionless look. Silently, Tanya held a glass of water out for her in one hand.

"Your arm stopped bleeding a few hours ago." The water was pushed closer to her. "I've read that wounds like that take quite a while to heal and are quite painful." Tanya's head tilted to the side as she regarded Bella.

Hesitantly, Bella reached over with her uninjured arm and took the glass. The vampire's other hand extended, palm up, two large pills resting in her palm.

Bella's eyes flickered from the pills to Tanya's face.

"Painkillers," Tanya told her.

Bella reached for the pills with her injured arm, wincing as the pain coursed through her limb.

"What does it feel like?"

Quickly swallowing the pills, Bella raised an eyebrow questioningly. "What?" She looked down. "My arm?"

The blonde nodded.

"It hurts."

Tanya rolled her eyes at the teen, huffing in exaggeration. "Yes, but what does it feel like?" she asked slowly, enunciating each word as if it would help the human understand her better.

Bella's brows furrowed in confusion. "What does what feel like?" she asked. "Pain?"

Again, Tanya nodded.

Struggling to push herself up into a sitting position, Bella turned to fully face Tanya. "You don't know what pain is?"

Tanya let her eyes travel over the teen's face, seeing, but not. "I haven't felt physical pain in almost a thousand years," she told the teenager softly, turning her head to look out the window.

Bella's head cocked to the side, curiously. "But you've felt emotional pain before?" she asked.

It was strange, talking to this vampire. The Cullen's had always presented themselves as polished and perfected; the only missing piece to their puzzle was Edward's solitude. Tanya, however, was different. There wasn't the air of superiority or timelessness about her that exuded from the Cullens. Clearly, Tanya had been flustered last night. And now, the vampire stared out the window, a million miles away, pensive and asking strange questions. Enigmatic.

Bella was fascinated.

"Yes," Tanya said, glancing back over at Bella – effectively breaking her from her internal thoughts. "I've felt emotional pain before."

Gold eyes searched brown in silence. The television played softly in the background as a moment of understanding passed between human and vampire, youth and maturity. Unspoken kinship and unanswered questions hung between them, as did the mutual agreement not to inquire.

Bella blinked, breaking eye contact. "It feels the same," she told Tanya, hands unconsciously wringing together. "The only difference is you can tell where the pain is coming from. You can feel its location."

Tanya let her gaze fall to Bella's bandaged arm, but said nothing. This human was interesting. She didn't talk nonstop like most mortals her age, but her emotions were palpable. She wore them on her face, in her eyes, carried them in her voice. It made Tanya feel like she was sharing them with the girl – emotions swelled in her breast like a euphoric drug. Centuries had passed since she'd last found herself invested in any part of life like she was now. It was addicting.

A loud thrumming noise interrupted her self-reflection.

Frowning, the vampire strained her ears to better hear the sound.

'_That sounds like war drums,'_ she thought, looking up and around frantically, searching for the source of the sound.

Her eyes fell on Bella. The human's heart was racing wildly; the girl was staring at something over Tanya's shoulder.

Tanya let her gaze follow the girls, turning to see what she was looking at, what had caused such a strong physical reaction.

Sitting on the cherry-stained, wooden stand was a flat panel television. Tanya had left it on. Currently, there was a live broadcast from Forks about the town's missing teens. The small town's chief of police, who just happened to be the father of one of the missing teens, was being hounded by reports asking for updates and statements about the ongoing investigation. The man looked physically and emotionally exhausted, not that the reporters seemed to care.

The faint smell of salt reached the vampires nose. Looking back to the girl, she saw that Bella's eyes were wet – the first signs of tears appearing. Ducking her head to stare at the floor, Tanya was torn between guilt, disgust, and exhilaration. Emotions coursed through her, making her heady with the thrill of feeling again.

But, oh, how she felt so alive! For the first time in half a millennia she was invested in something, was excited for the future!

'_At the cost of ruining a young girl's life,'_ her mind whispered, stomach twisting in shame.

Swallowing, Tanya glanced up at Bella, who still sat, staring, at the television that was broadcasting speculations about the teen's whereabouts and fate. She cleared her throat to get the teenager's attention.

Bella blinked her eyes rapidly before turning her attention to the blonde.

"We should discuss what happens next," Tanya told her, pulling the chair she had sat in earlier over to the bed and sitting down.

Bella nodded, taking a deep breath. She sat up straight and leveled her gaze at Tanya.

"Are you going to kill me?"

Tanya quirked an eyebrow. "I thought we'd already covered that," she said, splaying her hands out to indicate Bella and their current situation.

Bella flushed, her heartbeat erratic.

Tanya decided to take the lead.

"What do you want to do?" she asked Bella.

The teen's eyes flickered over to the television.

"There's no going back," Tanya told her, voice hard.

A shudder ran through the girl before her shoulders sagged. Bella brought her hands up to her face and furiously rubbed at her skin, dragging her hands up into her hair and tugging on the brown strands.

"I don't know," she sighed, voice cracking. "I have nothing." She shook her head. "No one."

"The Cullen's?" Tanya questioned.

A sarcastic laugh erupted from the girl. "Oh yes, the family who up and left without so much as a goodbye! That'll go over well, I'm sure."

Bella stood from the bed and walked over to the balcony window. She looked out over Seattle and chewed her bottom lip.

Tanya watched her silently, waiting to see what the girl would decide.

"He left me. They left me." Bella turned to face Tanya, face resolute. "I won't go chasing after something or someone who doesn't want me."

"What do you want to do then?" Tanya asked, not missing a beat.

Sighing, Bella shrugged. "Whatever you decide. We can go our separate ways if you'd like. You can be done with all this." She looked down at the carpet, digging her toes into the course material and studiously not focusing on the vampire. Her fate was completely in the hands of the immortal predator that sat before her and she knew it. If the vampire left her she'd have no place to go.

The silence in the room seemed to wrap around her, suffocating her in isolation. Never before had she felt so abandoned – not even when Edward had left her alone in the forest. Even she could hear her heart pounding in her chest.

Tanya stood and walked over to Bella, eyeing the human critically. She was well aware that the decision was hers, had known for hours. But she had wanted the teenager to acknowledge the fact as well.

She stood in front of the girl and looked at her, remaining silent until the teen finally looked up and met her gaze.

Brown met gold.

Tanya cocked her head to the side and gave Bella a quizzical look.

"Have you ever seen New Zealand this time of year?"

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**For you. As always.**


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